The studio didn’t even last three years before it closed. That’s a pretty short lifespan.
Kriste Stull, head of HR and director of operations at Deviation Games, announced the sad news on LinkedIn: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Deviation Games. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our entire team. Thank you for all of your hard work, dedication, and contributions to Deviation; I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have worked with each and every one of you. To the entire video game industry, we will be hosting a networking event, and we would love for any/all hiring companies/studios to attend. Please contact me directly if you are interested in attending. To all the Deviators out there, we will always cherish the memories we have made together. Thank you for being a part of our journey. Go get ’em!”
JOB UPDATE!
I've been wanting to say this for a while, but now I finally can! 😊
I'm a Junior Game Designer @PlayStation Studios.
And I work for Jason Blundell. ❤️
— JC (@JCbackfire) December 18, 2023
The studio, founded by Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony, was announced in June 2021. They had previously worked on Call of Duty at Treyarch, and had received funding from Sony to work on a new live service IP. In January 2022, the opening of a new office in Canada was announced, bringing more people to work at the company. However, in September 2022, Blundell left the company and, according to a tweet, ended up at PlayStation Studios. Ten months ago, Deviation was in the news for major cuts, and the unannounced live service IP was scrapped, despite being one of ten games planned for March 2026.
Plans have since changed, and by March 2026 Sony will only have six of those games due to delays and cancellations. One of these canceled projects was The Last of Us Online, which was originally intended to be a game mode for The Last of Us Part 2, but was eventually dropped from Naughty Dog’s game as the concept grew larger. The London studio’s fantasy co-op game is also gone, as the studio was shut down at the end of February.
Haven Studios, Firewalk Studios, and Bungie are working on Live Service titles (Fairgame$, Concord, Marathon), and Guerrilla is also working on a co-op Guerrilla Online despite layoffs.
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